A weekend forgotten

Oops, didnt say anything about the weekend...

June 20th:
Pretty typical day in germany with snow white, except snow got pooped on by a bird (hilarious-- her response, "oh thank you my little forest friend" I almost died laughing!) and our last set was rained out. Went to downtown disney afterward, ate at wolfgang pucks and then went to the Virgin Megastore, then saw Sex and the City Movie-- TOO GOOD! home super late, exhausted.

June 21st:
Mickey A1 judges tent-- a normal day for mickey mouse, watched a few movies in the break room, got an autograph book thrown at my face by a scared child and had another child run screaming from the room, almost ruining some magic. Jumped rope with the queue rope and rode the bus back to the tunnel in costume. Made a costuming guy's day. Went to MK, DAWM rained out, gemma felt sick, ate at peco bills, went to haunted mansion, thunder, home, other boleyn girl, sleep.

June 22nd:
Stitch 3 Tomorrowland: Getting to know the attendants and routine at this location really well, i love being stitch, best set ever in the rain with some newlyweds, a pen that didnt work, and an umbrella. super fun day. Went home and fell asleep by 6:30 pm, slept til 11 next morning.

June 23rd:
Day off, sleep, cashed paychecks, Outlet mall, sleep.

Daisy Day

Today was fun. My first day ever working at studios. I started at 8, so caught a bus at 7:02am and arrived at the toy box slightly early. Clocked, Changed and Checked, pulled my daisy costume and warmed up. Loaded all the costumes for characters going to the hat into a giant garbage bin type thing and walked through the park to our offset location, inside the great movie ride building. Changed and went for our first set at 9am. It was me as daisy with minnie on oe side of the hat, lilo and stitch on the other and donald in the middle. 3 sets with long breaks between, then we loaded our costumes back into the garbage bin thing and went back to the toy box. Waited for another hour, then changed back into costume and got onto a pargo (golf cart) which took us to guest relations where we did a magical moment with a randomly chosen family in a very small room. 2 little girls, very cute. And then we returned our costumes and waited to clock out. Clocked out at 2:10, and went into the park by my self to watch block party bash, it was very cute and different from all the other parades, but I still loved stars and motorcars. Pixar is taking over! It was cool from my perspective though, cause I say the parade performers in costume backstage and then on set as well. I dont know how they do it-- block party is really long! I dont think i want to learn that show, i dont have the stamina for it. Oh, ran into angie working, she was playing hockey with some kids and her custodial broom. and then I had chicken nuggets at abc commisary and came home. Start work early tomorrow, and then thursday its my bday!! woo hoo 19 :)

Some days in the life of an Alien

So June 18th and 19th I spent in Stiches Shoes in tomorrowland, Pretty normal days working from around eight to around 5. I was Stitch 2 and Stitch 3, so no welcome train for me. Hanging out with buzz lightyear and the guy who operates push the garbage can is always fun, watched some daytime tv and some Sabrina, Full House, and Sister Sister, and avoided rain. wednesday night Giuli and I had mac and cheese and a lazy evening-- we attempted to watch a movie but fell asleep instead. Thursday I went from work at MK to play at MK, with Gemma and Giuli. We attempted to watch the castle show, Dream along with mickey, but it started to rain and the show was pulled, so we ate at Peco Bills then went to the haunted mansion. While we were queuing there it started to thunder and lightning which was slighty creepy, going into a hauntd house to seek shelter from a storm... but we survived. Then Gemma went to work at the main st bakery and cone shop and giuli and I went home. We visited with sam, ordered pizza and wings, and chit chatted about life, then i went home and slept.

Today (june 20th) I'm Dopey in Germany (epcot) I start at 12:06pm so I've been vegging ths morning. I might be going to Hollywood studios tonight, but plans arent firm yet. :)

Busy-ness as usual

June 12th- Evening:
After my sick day naps, I headed over to Apt 4402 to chill out with Giuli. We ate a quick supper of box mix mashed potatoes and then, when Sam got home we headed off to see where she works- the Yacht and Beach Club. We got all dressed up and got on two stinky buses, and then wondered around the pool area for a bit. I'm a big fan of the pools, and the pirate slide. We stopped at Beaches and Cream for some ice cream, and then headed across the lake to the Boardwalk. We could see the Fireworks happening at epcot, which was kinda neat, and the movie Cars was playing on the beach. There were cute little swings along the beach, and five people bikes for the boardwalk. Being the smarty pants people we are, the three of us didnt realize you have to rent out the bikes, and accidentally hijacked someone elses, in our dresses... oops! We poked in the little shops and peeked at the pools, since my mom and sister and jordie and barbara are staying in the Boardwalk in July. and then we headed home and went to sleep.

June 13th:
I was a spare on friday which means that I didnt have an assigned location, a job assignment which means if someone calls in sick or wants an early release I would work, but if not, I would chill in the character zoo (the entertainment base in the tunnels at Magic Kingdom) for millions of hours. My shift started at 6:18 am, which meant I had to take a little shuttle van to west clock at 5:30. The guy driving the shuttle van didnt know where west clock is (which is ridiculous, it is where every MK cast member has to go before going to the tunnels and is where the shuttle was supposed to be going to) so we went to contemp, grand fla, and then west clock. This meant that I didnt arrive at work til about 6:10.
I quickly clocked in and went to costuming to scan out basics (the gray t-shirt, blue shorts with barcodes on them that we are required to wear for warmups and under our costumes) then checked in at the duty base. This process is the same for everyday I work at any of the parks-- it's called the Clock, Change and Check, and it must be completed before our shift officially starts.
If you're a spare, checking in with the duty window is exciting- they tell you whos called in sick in your height range, if anyone is. If not, which was the case for me on friday, you go into the warm up room and do one set of warm ups, then sit. Friday the warm up coach wasnt there, so we did self warm ups and sat. And sat. there were 6 mouse heights, an alice, a poppins, a cindy, an ariel and 2 plutos, plus 2 goofys and a charming all sitting around. Many of the other spares had nintendo ds and were playing mario kart frantically. I was people watching. It's kinda cool, because every character performer must warm up, so you see aladdin run through, or the mat hatter and a prince eric kissing, or a poppins bitching to a bert with a southern accent instead of an english one. Even with all the people watching, 5 hours of sitting made me extremely bored. I went to lunch, came back, and most of the face characters had been pulled or gone home. We sat for a few more hours, and at 3 pm us furs got pulled to do random sets in toon town merchandise and queue. I was Meeko, then there was a dopey, a daisy, an alice, and a prince philip. Random, I know. We also didnt have attendants (aHhhhh) which meant we got mobbed with children. We were only doing 2 twenty minute sets, so not a huge deal, but still annoying. We also were sharing an off set location with Belle, Aurora and Cindy, which was fun, but the faces can be snobbish sometimes.
And then, I went home at 5:30 :) Yay. 9 hours of sitting and 2.2 hours of work is exhausting.

Then Giuli and I went to Downtown Disney to see Baby Mama at the AMC theatre. And then sleep. Woot.

June 14th:

Same wake up and clock change check story at the 13th, 6:18 start, 5:30 bus. I got pulled to be mickey for contemp breakfast almost right away, only after I'd pulled my costume, and got into the van, mickey showed up. So then I returned my costume, went back to the duty base, and got pulled for minnie for poly. and the same thing happened again. So I returned my costume, got back into the duty base, and was sent to help out costuming with 2 other spares. After an hour of folding socks and cowls, I got pulled to epcot as Dopey in Germany. Fun Times. Another spare named cassie drove me over to epcot where I checked in with duty and was told to go to lunch. During lunch, a strange thing happened. People kept calling me Sophie and saying hi to me. Like, 7 people. Apparently I have a twin. Very wierd.
After lunch, I pulled the dopey costume and caught the van run to Germany at 12:40. My first set was at 1:20. So much fun to be dopey, and the Snow White I was working with was one of the ones who was a spare with me the day before. My Back to Back dopey was cool too.
In between sets we watched notting hill and I discussed politic with the Photo pass guy. 5 sets later, at 6:12, I was done. Returned my costume, and caught the bus home. I had a bit of a nap, then went and visited 4402 and sam. We chilled til Angie got home, then went to Bennigans and Walgreens. And then Bed.

June 15th:
I was Stitch 01 in Tomorrowland. I left at 6:57, started at 7:30 and clocked changed and checked. When I checked in I found out Stitch was in Welcome Show and Welcome Train :) SOOOO EXCITING! I pulled my costume, did warmups, then put on my costume in the tunnel. Then Snow white (same snow as the day before) showed me where to go (toon town rehearsal Facility.) All the welcome train characters waited there haf dressed for a little while-- Stitch, Mickey, Alice, Snow, Daisy, Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, Jiminy Cricket, Mary Poppins, Chip and Dale. A manager came i and got us all to sign an autograph book and a magical moments certificate for the family that won the oppurtunity to open the park. Then we all finished getting dressed and went out to toontown to meet the family. They were all crying with happiness as this huge group of characters gave them hugs and welcomed them to the park. Then we boarded the train, spread out to take up most of the seats. mickey sat with the family toward the middle of the train, I was in the first row of the 3rd car. We choo chood along to the Main st. Station, where we waved from the train while dancers danced in front of us. Then mickey announced that he had brought along friends to open the park, and we all stepped of the train and helped him "count backwards from 10" to the time the park officially opened. Stitch apparently always takes this literally and turns around to count, so I carried on that tradition and turned around, then daisy carried on her part and scolded me and turned me back the rightway. And then we stepped back through the train to the station,filed through and into the expo hall ofset location, where our personal gear had been brought from the tunnels. I picked up my bag and walked across the parking lot between mainstreet backstage and tomorrowland backstage and Stitch and Buzz lightyear's breakroom. After that the day was pretty normal-- kids love stitch, possibly even more than they love mickey, and it is always really fun to animate him, despite the heat and weight of that costume. it is to stitch that kids frequently say "i've been looking all over for you!" or "i saw your movie" which I think is too cute. As usual, I greeted a couple of make a wish kids and families, which is always emotional for me, and due to rain one of my sets was cut a bit short. And then at 5:30 it was time to go home. In the changeroom of the tunnels tho, I ran into giuli and joined her and gemma in a MK adventure in the rain. We ate ate Pinnochio's quick service place in fantasy land, then went on splash mountain and big thunder then watched the tiki room show and country bears. and then home and to sleep.

June 16th

Day off
Sleep
Supposed to meet gemma in mk cafeteria but she was at home sick
monorail to
Epcot - Living seas with nemo, Canada, England and dinner in France
home and sleep

June 17th
Day off- day with Gemma
Epcot- Soarin Fast passes (that we never used cuz life got busy and there was 6 hrs between when we got them and when we could use them), canada, England (met Lord Kensington, lol, and bought a mars bar ), France (met Princess Aurora), Morocco, Japan (fans and mirrors!)
and then after a morning of shopping and poking in the pavillions, we needed to go to downtown disney to buy our tickets for cirque du soliel for my b-day. Apparently no buses run from any of the parks direct to downtown disney, so we took a bus to Port Orleans French Quarter resort, had our feet in the pool there for a little while, then got on the water taxi to Downtown marketplace, then another one to west side. Bought the tickets, then took a bus to contemporary resort, and walked from there to MK, went through the park, into the tunnel, bused to west clock, and crossed the paking lot to Cast Connection- aka the best store ever. Discount discontinued disney merchandise, damaged merchandise, lost and found from the parks, and excess stuff from the resort rooms. Literally it has everything from golf carts to wall paper to t-shirts. I got a decorative plate that is gorgeous for $9 and plan to go back and get lots more stuff. We then went home with our finds, and were going to go back to epcot but realized we had missed our fast pass time :P so we went to CiCis pizza buffet instead. CiCis is cheap, but I wouldnt recommend the food. And then we did our laundry and went to sleep, with a little drama thrown in there for good measure.

Judges Tent and Island Mercantile

Saturday June 7th:

Sleep
Bus at 4:30pm
Clock in at 5
Warm Ups
Chatting with Anne
Pull Costume
Off to the Judges Tent
The Todd
Baby Abigail the poser (too cute)
Sets til 11:00
Super Soap Conversation
Gay Days, Mickey's Red Pants!
Off early
Walk to the mouth of the Tunnel as Mickey
Blisters
Waiting to Clock out
Home by 12:30
sleep

Sunday June 8th
First Day back at AK
Bus at 6:57 am
Clock in at 8:15
Pull stitch costume
Warm ups
Long walk to Island Mercantile
Off set trailer
Back to the Future 1,2,3
Sets
Lunch at Pride Rock
Chatting with a dream maker
Sets
Parade sets (Standing behind people watching the parade, waiting for them to notice you have no line...)
Poor Pluto
Skip
Clock Out at 5
Home
SLEEP by 6 til Next morning
abandoned sandwich-- made and forgotten

Monday June 9th
SLEEP
AK with Angie 9:45 am bus
Nemo the Musical
Kilamanjaro Safaris
Kali river rapids
Backstage- lunch at Pride Rock
Festival of the Lion King (SO GOOD)
Meeting Minnie Mouse
Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade
Happy Birthday, Donald Duck
Primeval Whirl
Chatting with Donald's "friend" at the bus stop
Home
epcot for food with angie, hannah, gemma and giuli
Mexican
Trying to get to france
Illuminations
Candy
Missed Bus
Cought stinky bus
"Is the toilet air conditioned??... it's an extra seat!"
"so england, wales, scotland are all countries, and Britain is a country they are all inside of? So they are provinces then!"
Home
Hot tub
Thunder storm
Sleep- on 2402's couch :)

Tuesday June 10th-- Social Security Appointment!
Wake up on 2402's couch
6:30 am bus
Social Security office
over prepared
home by 9:30 am
SLEEP
Wake up at 1:30pm
Off to Magic Kingdom with hannah, giuli, angie and jade
Cosmic Rays
Space Mountain
Maybe we should have checked the weather
Torrential rainstorm
Thunder and Lightning
SMOOTHIE!
Into the tunnels
looking at the costume heads
Hilarious bus ride
home
Walgreens
Movie Night
Chinese food
Brownies
Yum
KD
Step Up 2 The Streets
Home
Sleep

Wednesday June 11th:
Sleep
6:57 am bus
8:00 clock in
Stitch at AK
Warm ups
Irene
Sets
Women's House of D
Miss Congeniality 2
sets
Clock out 4:42 (?? random time to end a shift!)
Check in with Dave from Management
Home
Boardwalk Outing with Sam and Giuli Beaches and Cream Home Sleep

Thursday June 12th:

Sleep
Home sick (period :P)
Sleep :)




Love it here still, really having a great time :)

First Day of Work

Ok, just in case you're curious, I do hope to backtrack in detail-ify these posts over the next couple of days, but in the meantime, and just in case I never actually get to it these summaries will help me remember what i wanna say and remember about each day. Sorry if it doesnt make good reading at the moment, hopefully i'll not be as exhausted at the end of the day once I get used to the pace. So, this post is gunna be yesterday and today!

Yesterday (Thursday June 5th)

Sleep
Sleep
(Day off)
put lotion on sun burn
Sleep
Lunch
Sleep
practice autographs
sleep
go to studios w/ angelica
TOY STORY MIDWAY MANIA!
Disney Animation attraction
Draw Stitch!
Jarvis
Wendy's :)
Home
Sleep

Today:
Woke up hours before my alarm
bus at 9:05
Clock, Change and Check by 10
Warm Ups with Anne (my trainer from day 1)
Chipmunks music
met my minnie
pulled costume
bus to toon town
the mouse house!
Meeting tons of mickeys
First Family-- A special visit in the Teardrop because they were too big to fit through the doors of judges tent. Very sad, but very special, the boy could no longer stand , his legs couldnt hold his weight.
Which door?
Room C
Ride that watermelon, Minnie!
First Sets
Daytime TV!
Lunch
Burning Toaster (It wasnt me! It was the cockroach!)
Sparkle
bus to tunnel
costume return
change, clock out at 9 pm
bus to west clock
home
sore feet
tired now :)

I'll fill in the details of training later, i have lots more to say and dont wanna forget it, but cant do more than one entry at a time, i get bored of staring at the screen. Today is my first day off in a week. Tired but so happy with my job and how everything has been. Tomorrow I have another day off, then friday i'm mickey in toontown, saturday same thing.


So today:
sleep sleep sleep
Pool with Gemma
Chilling with the Chrises
No Sunscreen, ouch factor!
Lobster Steffie and Lobster Gemma
IHOP
Walmart
bed

TRAINING DAY FIVE-- OPENING DAY

Magic Kingdom
Trainers: Vivian and Danielle
tunnel tour
How to do dining experiences
liberty tree
crystal palace
Magical moment
costuming
Stitch!
First set-- LOOK MOM, STITCH!
Stampede!
falling neck fur
Stitch, Friar Tuck, Brer Bear, Gepetto, Pinocchio, King Louis
Assessment
Cast Services Introduction, Cast Support Introduction
golden ticket
Lunch in the Mouseketeeria
Two more sets
tour of the character zoo
colour coding
clock out
home
walmart
thunder storm!
the Chris's
Battle of the Sexes
Apples to Apples
Home
Sleep

TRAINING DAY FOUR-- FineTOONing

Hollywood studios
trainers: Sonali and Danielle
Toy box
costuming
toy chest
warm ups
travel to MK
Costuming
where are Marie's feet!
Heavy, tight costume
first sets in toon town
how to be a GOOD disney villain
"I'm named after you, marie"
Marie, Sheriff of Nottingham, Baloo, Mr Smee, Meeko
Lunch in the Mouseketeeria
faces backstage
ariel and eric
more sets
Back to hollywood
bus stop
RAIN!
Home
Hollywood again
Backlot Tour
Fantasmic!
Home
Pool/hot tub
sleep

TRAINING DAY 3- PREVIEWS

Epcot
Trainers: Jo Ellen and Kristy
behind norway
costume room
American adventure
first sets with guests!
Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Mickey, Big Al, Wendell, Gideon, Mr. Penguin
Bye, Sabina and Trista :(
Face Babies
Give kids the world
Dip
Discovery diner
3 more set
costume return
stories (tears)
home
sleep

TRAINING DAY TWO-- THATS ANIMATION!

summary:
sleep in!
DAK behind the scenes
parade building
early
trainers- Jo-Ellen and Danielle
character basics
costume room
maingate
t-lab
lunch
warm ups
good job video
First time in full costume
head and shoulders knees and toes
character story
3 sets
tired
home
walking macaroni and cheese
quick costume
mk
Pirate and Princess party
Tea Cups
Pooh Ride
Parade
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Fireworks
Two Jacks
Buzz Lightyear Ride
home
Sleep

TRAINING DAY ONE- THATS ENTERTAINMENT!

Training day 1 (Friday May 30th)started pretty early in the morning. We had to be at the DAK wardrobe building at 8:15, which meant catching a 7:45 bus. On the bus, Sabina and I met Adam, Jackie and Trista, from Canada and Hong Kong respectively, who had completed earlier auditions and were also in our training class. We waited outside the building, and once again were picked up by a white 15 seater van. Apparently these vans are popular in our department. This one had Jo-Ellen at the wheel, the first of our trainers. She took us to Main Gate, a WDW office building with the entertainment training facility at the very centre of it. There we met Anne, our second trainer, who had the most happy laugh I have ever heard, and Karley, a floridian also in our class who was training to be fur and face characters-- Ariel is her face friend.
We began our training with Anne, who took us through the basics of animation and the importance of our role to many people. We watched a video of a little girl named Maggie who said to Mickey Mouse, "I've been waiting my whole life to meet you". It was touching... most of us cried, cause that is us now.
Halfway through the morning, we were interrupted by a crash at the door. When we opened it, there was no one there. A few seconds after we closed the door again, the door crashed open and the boss himself trolled in, waving a huge white hand. Mickey Mouse had arrived!
After greeting all of us, Mickey helped Anne demonstrate various picture poses and dos and donts of our job. For example, if a woman is in a bikini top the only approved pose is to link arms with her. In any picture, bot of our hands must be visible at all times.
We then went to lunch at animal kingdom's backstage cafeteria, called the Pride Rock caf, and got connected to the cast member website called the Hub in the Disney Learning Centre there. After lunch, we visited an off set location, where entertainers wait for their next set on stage to begin. This was my first time seeing people half in costume and it was a little jarring.
We went into camp Minnie Mickey and watched a set, observing things we had learnt that morning. It was very cool. At one point, mickey posed in a girl pose, and was subtly but instantly corrected by his photographer and attendant. Goofy forgot his hat, and had to go back for it, which was also kinda funny to see.
After our observation, we went back to main gate to practice walking and posing like a girl or boy character. this was cute, when we were boy we walked to I'll make a man out of you from Mulan, and when we were girls it was the Feminine song from aristocats.
Then we went to the T-lab for a bit and did some courses we had to do and then, we played a game called prices please, where we had to guess the costs of each part of a character costume. Lets just say they are expensive, and the buzz lightyear costs more than many cars. Once that was finished, we got to try on our heads, hands and feet for the first time. I was mickey, and the first time I saw the world through mickeys eyes was very memorable, I loved my job instantly.
After that it was time to head home.

We wantedto see Sex and the City friday night, and a bunch of canadians and brits headed out to disney in the hopes of seeing it, but it was all sold out, so we went to magic kingdom, taking a water taxi from downtown disney to coronado springs resort and then a bus to MK.. We went on the Pirates of the Carribean and the Monsters Inc Laugh floor, and didnt watch either spectro or wishes, which was wierd for all of us, cuz it was the first time i'd been in a park and not done the fireworks/parade. Lines are def shorter when everyone else is focusing elsewhere, and you can hear the fireworks inside louder than I would have expected.

And then It was home and sleep for me-- it was a long exhausting day!

Just so you know

Hi people. You may have noticed myblog is no longer open to everyone. This is because as Youknow I have a special role at disney world that we want to preserve the integrity and secrecy of. So from now on, this blog is invite only. i will still be telling you about my experience, it will just only be immediate friends and family as well as other disney cast members. I havent updated in a couple of days, new posts will be up shortly. For now, I passed my audition, started training on Friday, and Training days one and two were awesome. I also went to the magic kingdom twice, once for the Pirate and Princess party. And, tomorow I will be "on set" for the first time, doing 5 20 minute sets of minnie mouse in epcot. Very Exciting. More news and info coming soon. Love yous!

WELCOME TO WALT DISNEY ENTERTAINMENT

Eek! Today started off lazy, lounging around til about 3 then heading to the Clubhouse to be picked up by a white van. Since I was being picked up at 3:00, I was reluctant to do anything in the morning for fear of not getting back in time. So I stayed pretty close to home most of the day, and then headed over to the pavillion at about 5 minutes to 3. On the way down the stairs out of my apartment, I twisted my ankle, then got worried about the time so promptly forgot that my ankle hurt and ran the rest of the way. The pavillion was deserted, which worried me, so I pulled out the flyer about the audition and realizd I was supposed to be at the clubhouse (which is right next to my apartment...). So I ran again, and met up with Sabina, a girl from my traditions class who was also auditioning. At about 3, a white van pulled up in front of us, and Robert, an Entertainment cast member greeted us. We got into the van and met David from Mexico. On the way to the audition, we picked Roberts brain for info on entertainment, costumes, and of course, the particulars of the audition.
Finally we arrived at the Disney's Animal Kingdom Wardrobe building, which is where they store the 'costumes' (uniforms) formost jobs in that park.It is not walking distance from DAK like the wardrobes of the other parks are, and it also has a huge rehearsal facility in it used for auditions. Us three international students got a bit of special treatment from the very beginning of the audition process. Robert escorted us everywhere and pretty much did all our talking for us. While the hundred or so other people responding to the open call were given numbers, the three of us were given letters (I was A), affectionately called the alphabet kids, and wer the first to do each section of the audition.
We arrived to see people lined up in a huge room, being assigned numbers. The audition didnt start for almost half an hour, but we had some paperwork to pass the time. They did the audition in halves, with the alphabet kids and 50 others going first. The first half of the audition was an easy dance routine. It was only two counts of eight, and not complicated at all. We learnt it as a group then did it across the floor in groups of three (guess who the first group was???). Then we were ushered back into the holding area while the second group went through the same thing. While in the holding area, the entertainment people began calling names. About half our group was sent home without completing the audition. When the other group was finished, more names were called to go home, then the remainder of us were split into two groups- most of us, myself included went to an animation workshop... about 10 were sent to a dance intensive workshop.
The animation workshop wastough. We learnt a bit about how to make costumes alive and meaningful, and then they play 1 minute and 55 seconds of speedy cartoon music and told us we were late for something and to get ready quickly. we repeated this several times before doing it for the panel in groups of 6. It was exhausting, we were really moving and bouncingand being full of energy.It was fun though. So then A,B and C exited the audition hall and waited in a little breakroom. We all passed the audition!! They gave us the news and then told us our schedule for the coming 5 days of entertainment training. We then went home.

There was a pool party thursday night in my apartment complex and I went for a bit, but I was so physically and mentally exhausted from the audition that I didnt stay long. Early bed for me-- I thought. But as Iwas getting ready for bed, Kristal from the CRP called and then I called angie and we all chilled for a while, then I realized I had no dress pant for my training, so angie and I made a late night walmart run. Ifinally went to bed, not quite as early as I'd hoped :)

When you wish...

Wednesday:

Ok, so Wednesday morning we all woke up confused in Apt 2402's living room...I remember closing my laptop and asking who wanted to walk me half way home cuz i'm a chicken, and then I guess we all just fell asleep. We were exhausted, it's been a busy couple of days, and yesterday, Wednesday, got even busier.

After waking up, i went back to my apt and got ready for traditions, which has quite a strict dress code. I showered and talked to my mum on the phone, then headed back to apt 2402 for pancakes. I ended up having toast with nutella (don't know why) and then once all of us were dressed we had a little photo shoot.

We then walked to the bus stop and again waited forever-- The regualar, scheduled busses come really regularly,but the buses we have been taken are special, just for icp people and they are always late.

When we got on the bus, we sat at the very front and on the dashboard was a shoe. This made us laugh. Just one, girly shoe, obviously forgotten.

So we took the bus to Disney University, which is behind the Magic Kingdom and is Cast Members Only :) The building is so cool on the inside, with tons of pics and screeshots and disney memorabilia. My classroom was themed "you've got a friend in me" and was very cute.

For those who dont know, Traditions is the First Official Day of Work for new cast members. It is the passing down of the disney culture, traditions, and ways of doing things to the next generation of staff. we learnt the disney point and the disney scoop, Disney-ese, and tons of other stuff in this 4 hour session. It was really cute. Every time we participated we got a "criitter" whish is basically a little disney character figurine. I got Mickey, Pluto and Daisy :) Gemma, Giulianna, and I were in the same class, at the same table, along with Nicole from Newfoundland and Sabina from England-- Sabina is also a character performer, so that is exciting that I've finally met another one. So ya, traditions was cool, long, and emotional. When they played a couple of the movies about making dreams come true and such, half of us ended up bawling... But then it was over and we left Disney U, rushed back to Vista Way, changed ate, and headed to Magic Kingdom.

We decided to go in on the monorail to give sam, who has never been before, the full effect of walking down main street. It was awesome to go through the cast members only entrance on the side of the turnstiles. We got into MK late, about 7:30 ish, and guests were already sitting along the parade route, which we really wanted to see, but the parade wasnt til 9 so we decided to do a couple of attractions and then hope we found a spot to watch. we got lucky, walking right into Philharmagic, It's a small World, and Haunted Mansion. It was really cool to see the changes that have been done to Haunted Mansion! I was really impressed :)

We sat to watch the parade right in front of the haunted mansion, with a family from missouri who were very friendly. Spectro magic was terrific as always, and so was Wishes, the fireworks, which we watched from in front of the castle. We all cried a bit then too, and had a group hug. We just cant believe we're here. So then, we exited the park and went home, but not in the usual way-- we went into the cast member tunnels under the magic kingdom. All I can say is they were very cool. We took the bus from the end of the tunnel to the westclock, the main bus stop for cast members, then waited for ever for a bus back to vistaway.

By the time we got home we were exhausted, but very happy and impressed.

Summary:
Woke up at apt 2402 on couch
talked to mom on phone
pancakes/toast
got ready for traditions
late bus
lost shoe
traditions
critters
disney u
crying
rushed to mk
mk
philharmagic, small world, haunted mansion
chatting with ppl b4 parade
spectromagic
wishes
tunnels
west clock
long wait for bus (!!)
tired
bed now, fill in details tommorrow (I dont have my audition til 3:00, so i promise I'll put it up b4 then)




Plan for the next few days:
Thursday: Audition, Trip to the Studios (maybe), Pool party.
Friday: Dont know my work schedule yet, then seeing the Sex and the City movie at Downtown Disney, then going to a get together at Chatham.

Dictionary of Differences

Today was good :) Started out a little rocky with the bus to our orientation being super late, but after that it was pretty smooth. Orientation this morning was boring, they talked to us about banking with the Disney bank, Partners, and what we can and cant do with our work visa (to prevent deportataion). That presentation was pretty cool, themed to Toy Story with us as the Aliens... haha. And then we had lots of paperwork-- Interrupted by falling asleep on apt 2402's (angelica, sam, giuli, gemma's apt) couch.

It's now thursday, but I'm gunna try to expand this entry...

Tuesday:

The paper work at our morning orientation was mostly to do with homeland security and our status in the country. We then had a presentation by Partners! The bank exclusively for disney cast members and their families. After that, we got back on another late bus, and headed back to vista way for a little break. At 2 ish we had another session, this one was here at the Vista Way clubhouse, and was one of the walk around and go to certain stations. At this session, most people found out their placements-- Angelica is a custodian at The Studios, Giuli is Food and Beverage at the Grand Floridian Resort, Sam is a Lifegaurd at Pop Century resort, Gemma is Food and Bev on Main Street of the Magic Kingdom, Alex is Lifegaurding at The Beach Club resort, Fanny is F&B at All Stars Resort ... and thats all I can think of off the top of my head... Me though, i just found out, again, that I have an audition thursday afternoon. Most people start their training on thursday, but apparently i start at 6:15 am friday morning... or thats the rumor anyways.
So after we got our assignments, we got out main gate passes, the little card that lets us let up to three people into the park on 6 days. Then we walked from the clubhouse to building 26 to have a class on filling out the tax form and we signed our life away in the form of confidentiality agreements and release of idea forms, which basically means that any ideas, suggestions or thoughts we say at work belong to the disney company :P.

So then we went back to the apartment, and waited for angelica to come home so we could go to Walmart. And waited. And started the Distionary of Differences, for all the words and phrases we say that are different from each other. And waited. And thought, this isnt like her, but we didnt have a way to contact her, so eventually we just left, leaving her a note to call us when she got in.

We took the bus to Walmart, chatting with this guy from Haiti, which was cool, and right after we got inside the supercentre, we got a call from angie- poor girl had gotten lost on the way back from visiting her parents and ended up on the turnpike to tampa bay, then the security people at our complex wouldnt let her park the car they had previous said she could park for the week. Needless to say she was upset. eventually she got through, but the 10 minute trip home had taken almost 2 hours. So she didnt come to walmart, and we bought cookie dough to make her feel better, and the blouse she needed for traditions.

We somehow managed to spend 3 hours in walmart, i got shoes for my audition, a mattress cover, some food, an alarm clock... and we decided to make a big dinner, the girls from the uk wanted us to try curry so we had curry chicken and rice. They were shocked that we had never had indian food before, and even more surprised at how small the oriental foods section of walmart was. They were so cute when they got to the english food section, i thought they would buy everything they liked the taste of home.

By the time we got home (in a taxi, we just missed the bus which is probably a good thing, getting all our junk onto the bus would have been hard...) it was 9 o clock, by the time we had dinner and made cookies it was even later. So we went for a swim and chatted a lot, and then I started this blog entry and apparently, at about 3 in the morning, we all fell asleep in the living room-- cuz we all woke up there the next morning. Me on the couch, cam on the floor, giuli on the armchair-- Ang and Gemma were smart enough to actually go to their beds...



Summary:
Orientation: Visa Info, Forms, Banking, work locations, tax forms, main gate passes, class thing in building 26

angelica gets lost, trip to walmart for three hours (!!) Chatting with ppl on the bus, missed bus, taxi, curry dinner, burnt cookies, chatting, swim, chatting, attempt at blogging, sleep.

Cockroaches and Elevators

Ok, so i've missed some stuff out of my last couple of entries, so this is an add in:

Elevators: On the way out of my nana's apt on sunday, we got stuck between floors because they shut down the elevators when an alarm went off. Needless to say, I kinda freaked and was sure I was gunna miss my flight :)

Cockroaches: So I saw a cockroach for the first time last night, not in my apartment thank goodness but we all kinda freaked and stood on chairs spraying it with lysol... were real girly girls apparently...

Vista Way: I never gave a real description of where I am living. Vista Way is an apartment complex that houses approx 2500 student workers- international and american. It's one of 4 similar complexes that altogether house some 9000 students. There are little buildings in a village sort of thing, with 6 apts in each building. I live on the third floor of my building, which is nice because our cieling goes up into a point, much higher than the other floors, and we have an extra semi-circle window on top of our picture window in the living room. I still haven't posted the video i made of our apt, but it'll be up here soon. We have three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a big kitchen, living room, and it is all really spacious. My apt is right beside the pool and volleyball court, beside the clubhouse and not far from the bus stop. The busses run constantly and are coach busses exclusively for the use of cast members living in the complexes. The pool and hot tub are really nice, and weve already gone swimming 3 or 4 times.

Disney Delirium

First full day and it was great. I'm exhausted, but i don't wanna forget anything so this'll be a bit of a quick and dirty post with just the facts-- unless i get distracted and start putting more detail in it, which i probably will...

I woke up pretty early this morning, especially considering the time I went to bed at last night. When I opened my eyes I was instantly fully awake, which is so wierd for me. Anyways, I got up just about right away and chatted with people on facebook and msn for a bit, and ate breakfast with my roomies and finally really met and got to know them all a little better. There is Fanny, my roomie from Hong Kong who will be a quick service food and beverage server, Alexandra the lifeguard from Quebec City, Patricia from Mexico, who I think is doing housekeeping, and Sara from England and i cant think what her role is... I've met so many people it is hard to keep it straight. So after breakfast and a shower I went over to Angelica's apartment, which right now I'm still way more bonded with than my own, which I think is fine. My apartment is really organized with our cleaning schedule and good talks about what we need for the common areas in terms of shared stuff and responsibilities, and we all chat with each other, but all of us kinda split up during the day because we all have other people we know and are hanging out with. It actually is a good dynamic because you are way likely to fight with someone that you are not best friends with. Apt 2402, on the other hand, I've clicked with most of them completely and pretty instantly. There is Angelica from Canada who will be a custodian, Giuliana from Canada who is a quick service food and beverage server, Gemma from Wales who is merchandise (i think... I might be wrong there...) Samantha from Liverpool, England who is a Lifeguard, and then two Jennifers from hong kong who haven't really spoken much to the rest of us, but seem nice. It is mostly the five of us-- Gemma, Angie, Sam, Giuli and myself-- who have really spent a lot of time chatting and joking, I feel like I've known all of them for ages.
I think one of the things happening is language barrier divisions. Though everyone speaks a little english, it is way easier to find similar humour when the language is the same-- although with the accents and slang sam and gemma use, sometimes we might as well be speaking different languages. I've learnt lots of new words, some fun curse words and helped clear confusion about crisps and chips and how they are different :)
The way the five of us get along hasnt taken anything away from the dynamic atmosphere of living with people from all over. It really struck me in the shower this morning as i looked at everyones toiletries on their little shelves-- spanish, chinese, french and english were all there. It was really neat. Right now, Fanny is showing Patty places in Asia on google and patty just finished showing mexico. English is neither of their first languages, but both are speaking it. I admire people who emmerse themselves completely into a different culture the way people on these international programs have. Even the europeans like gemma and sam are faced with big differences, it would be crazy to be in a foreign country with only a basic knowledge of the language.
Anyways, tangent over, back to this morning. for orientation we have been divided into groups and we have different timeslots for different things. It's really well organized, with 300 people getting loads of paper work done really quickly and without ever really standing in line. So Angelica's was early, like 8:45 am, so around 9:30 i headed over to her place, she was done the first part of her orientation, which was just a bunch of forms and such, but the people at the border hadnt given back one form that she had to have, so that was a bit of an issue but its all solved now. So then gemma and I headed over to the welcome pavillion for our allotted time of 10:15. There was music playing outside, and a guy asking trivia questions periodically (really easy movie trivia, I got a photo album with the international programs logo on it for answering the question "where does Mufasa's family live in the Lion King" (Pride Rock). ) we gradually snaked around the room filling out various forms and getting our id photo taken for access to the apt complexes and going through the disney look book procedures and having our medical insurance checked and our visa status confirmed by immigration people. There were enough people helping at each station that once you finished one station you could go directly to the next with no wait. All the Cast Members helping us with the costume read addressed us by name (we were wearing nametags, but still) and asked us how we were doing and everything right away, it was nice.

So all that took a little under an hour, but I think if it was any other company attempting to get that much stuff accomplished for that many people we would have been there for hours and hours standing in long lines. So then I went back to my apartment and ate lunch and visited again with myapartment mates, then went against my schedule (gasp!) and went to an earlier housing welcome session at the commons than I was supposed to. Since we wanted time for a swim and to go to Downtown Disney, it didnt make sense to wait around doing nothing while waiting for our session to start-- the 5 of us were all scheduled to take a 1:15 bus to the commons for a 3:00 presentation, but instead we took a 12:15 bus for a 12:30 presentation and were out of there by 3 with way less waiting around. The housing welcome session was a presentation from Price Management, the people that oversee our housing, and disney about rules and protocols and special events and such. It was long but sometimes slightly amusing.unfortunately, they had it set up that we needed to pick up some documents organized by name after the presentation, and since we werent technically in the group, ours werent ready yet, so we went home for a swim for an hour or so then caught a 4 oclock bus back to the commons, and picked up those papers. Part of my paperwork was the notice that my audition will be thursday afternoon at 3:00 :) I'm excited! Most people will be finding out their work locations tomorrow and meeting with their trainers-- not sure how that works for me but i'm sure they have something planned, since it is on my itinerary to do that as well. After getting that stuff, we went straight from there to downtown disney.

Sam has never been to america before, or to disney anything before (she was a disney virgin!) so she was entranced by downtown disney (cant wait for her to see magic kingdom or any of the parks, she was so impressed!).

I definately finally felt like I was in Disney World when I got off the bus and saw all the kids with ears on :) In one of the stores we all put on ears and took a pic of ourselves (its not on my camera or it would be on here) we figure when we "graduate" at the end of our program, and they give us the graduation ears well take the same picture, which will be cute.

So ya, we did the marketplace section of downton disney and decided that we're gunna go to Planet Hollywood and to see cirque de soliel on my birthday, which is a month today (well, now we're past midnight so I gues yesterday), because a special discount for cast members to see cirque for $40 which is 50% off, ends two days later, plus its my birthday and I want it to be a fun night.

Then we were hungry, and since we were all a little dressed up we didnt want fast food, so we decided to check out the Rainforest Cafe. The wait was over an hour, but as were discussing whether wed wait or not a guy came out and asked rather quietly to the back of the line if any of us were parties of 6. We said, no were a party of 5 and he said wanna sit now in the bar area or wait an hour, and then he seated us right away! (now thats disney magic) so we waited literally less than 30 seconds!

I'd never been to a rainforest cafe before, and it is def my new fave restaurant! It's all setup with animals and toadstools and such-- I have a video of it that i'll put here in the next couple of days, i just havent had time to put them on here yet. The bar is under a mushroom thing with water dripping off the edges-- it's hard to describe but really cool, and periodically the sky gets darks and it storms a bit, then there is a rainbow... too cool! The food was good too.

So we shopped a bit more, bought mystery bags at the mickey mart and were way to excited about opening them (we got binoculars, playingcards, a ratatouille watch, and some other stuff) and pressed some souvenir pennies, which i've kinda decided to collect while i'm here. An then we headed home, (we were directed to the bus stop by a security guard named mickey. We decided that maybe people named after characters should get paid more, because it is entertaining to guests) and had another swim in the pool and the hot tub. Then we chatted a bit and seperated for the night.

So that was pretty detailed, it's taken me an hour and a half to write, and I am going to sleep like a rock tonight, i'm falling asleep in this very uncomfy chair. g'nite!

p.s

p.s-- have photos and video, will post tommorrow

Here at last!

Wow, today was awesome. I love it here, so far. Obviously nothing has really started, but it was a really good day.

I spent last night at my nana's house, en route to Buffalo where I caught my flight. We left at around 11:00 am on our way to the border (this is wierd-- it is 3 am-ish the next morning but it kinda feels like its been weeks since then!) and then crossed the border at about noon. It was a long hot drive and I felt a bit nauseous the whole way through, though whether it was car sickness or nerves I don't know. The border wait was long, though we chatted between the cars with a family originally from St. Lucia, which was kinda cool, and then I had to go inside the customs office to get my paperwork done up and that was a bit time consuming as well. Once that was all done, we weren't far at all from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. I checked in there at about 1:20, (and as I left the check in counter ran into ellen, a girl who was at my interview in toronto months ago. I recognized her and also noticed she was carrying the disney congratulations package, which I had just finished putting back into my packsack) and went though security really quickly, no lines at all. I said good bye to my momma and Jordie and went to wait in gate 14. There was a plug in for my lap top, so I watched some episodes of the Office and Heroes and ate a salad. My plane was about 15 minutes delayed, which wasn't really a big deal, but it made the wait that little bit longer. The plane was smallish, or smaller than I remember my last planeride to be, but that was four years ago so maybe the plane was normal sized, i dunno. I was seated in row 28, which was just behind the wing and just in front of the engine/propeller/big round thing that makes a lot of noise. It wasn't too bad, but it bugged me a bit. Nobody sat beside me, which was nice because the armrests can go up so I put my feet on that seat. The take off was kinda funny-- a little girl in front of me screamed as the plane went up and her mother quickly shushed her and the girl, who was only about three said "that was fun. Was that a rollercoaster?" it was too cute. No movie on this plane, but the trip went quickly, mostly because I was a bit of a nervous flyer so I just stared blankly out the window making sure we weren't dropping out of the sky-- as if my peering out the window could stop us if we were... There was radio in our armrests, so I listened to Radio Disney the whole way there to get me in the spirit of things. We spant a good portion of the flight along the coast, and being on the left side of the plane that meant I could see no land at all. It was a pretty sunny and clear day, with almost no clouds at all the whole trip. Finally we landed in Orlando.

I got off the plane and walked through the gate to a monorail/train type thing to the main terminal (very cool) and then made my way down to shuttle to my apartment. My shuttle also had a lady on it from Georgia and her two sons who were going to stay at a hotel closeby, and we got chatting, they were very excited that I was a Disney Cast Member. Also in my bus was a guy from Glasgow, Scotland who was also on ICP, which was kinda neat.

We arrived a Vista Way, one of the disney apartment complexes and the central welcoming spot for the 300 arriving international college program participants. I had thought it was amuch smaller program than it is-- I was thinking like 40 people would be arriving today... I was WAY off. The door of our shuttle was opened by a cast member who welcomed us and told us, "you're home now". I was very excited. They had quite the system for dealing with arrivals, they were well prepared for the influx of people, with places to put our luggage before we headed into what was essentially a three stage presentation which kept us rotating and kept the amount of standing around to a minimum. We picked the name to appear on our nametags, then moved into the pavillion to see a short 3 minute video talking about the security in the complex, then recieved welcome packages and some freebie things, and a book with all the merchants in the orlando area that give discounts to CMs. We also recieved our housing location and key. The ICPs are spread through the 4 apt complexes, but I'm in the Vista Way complex (i was so happy I didn't have to travel to another spot, the welcome center is at Vista.) I met up with Angelica, whi had already checked in hours earlier, and she helped my walk my stuff to my complex. I liveon the third (top) floor of my building, and it is very cute. I haven't really gotten to know my roommates yet, and don't actually remember all there names. I dumped my suitcases on my bed and asked my room mates (there are 5 plus me in my apartment, I share a room with a girl named Fanny (i'm not sure if that is spelt right) from Hong Kong. if they had already been to Walmart. They head, so I immediatly went with Angelica, who, lucky girl, has a car this week whil her parents are in town. Lucky me, too, cuz I didn't have to take a bus with all the stuff I needed. (including tinkerbell sheets :) )

We didn't get back from walmart til almost 10:30, and because of the time changes most of my apartment mates were asleep or headed to bed. I unpacked and set up all my stuff, ate some KD and then, since my apartment was asleep, headed to angelica's, which is a 2 second walk from mine (just across a volleyball court). Turns out Giuliana, who I danced with in Ottawa, is also in Angelica's apt, and we hung out and chatted along with Sam from Nottingham, England and Gemma from Wales for a couple of hours-- as in til about 3 am. It was awesome, I feel like we really clicked-- which is good and bad- I know I'll click with my apartment mates too, but I haven't even met them all and I've really bonded with this other apt. Maybe our 2 apts can just kinda totally connect, I guess we'll see.

So now I am sitting in my very quiet apartment's living room typing this up. I'm exhausted, but not sleepy...

Tommorow I have to attend an orientation at 10:15 am, which will be a housing check in, then I have a break at 11, then at 1:15 I have a welcome session at Chatham Square.

Tuesday we have a presentation from the Disney bank and some other stuff in the morning, then it looks like, from the schedule, we'll recieve the info on our actual job training.

Wednesday is our traditions class!!!! which will be cool.


Anyways, I'm gunna go try to sleep. I still can't believe I'm here :)